Vivek Shah, CEO of j2 Global with a $45 million pay, not anonymous any longer

Shah doesn't want to get personal recognition and believes in building awareness about the company.

By Masoom Gupte, ET Bureau | Jul 22, 2019, 10.14 AM IST

Vivek Shah is the CEO of j2 Global. (Image: LinkedIn/Vivek Shah)

A recent survey of the highest paid CEOs of US companies featured two Indian names in the top 10. There was Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora at No.3, and at No.10 was a surprise entry, Vivek Shah of j2 Global, with his $45 million pay package.

A podcast interview earlier this year introduced Shah as the CEO of j2 Global, “a company you probably have not heard of”. In light of such comments, Shah’s position in the top 10, over other high profile Indian exports like Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Ajay Banga (MasterCard) and Shantanu Narayen (Adobe) is interesting. For those not in the know, j2’s core business includes a portfolio of media and internet service firms.

The podcast also spoke to Shah about being “relatively anonymous”, and asked him how important is it to have an increased profile. Shah said, “I think building awareness about the company among those stakeholders is important, so I wouldn’t dispute that. Getting personal recognition and seeing my name out there isn’t…”

However, now that he has broken into the list of the top paid CEOs, remaining anonymous isn’t likely any more for Shah.

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Like every year, Forbes World's Billionaire list highlighted some obvious names, and brought in some surprises.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos topped the global list, and Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani ranked 13th making him the wealthiest Indian.

With 55 fewer billionaires from the previous year, the ultra-rich make a total net worth of $8.7 trillion ($400 million lower last year), Forbes reported.

Here's a look at who made it to the Forbes rich list this year.